


The Revolt

by Ghostwriter (Zoya_Zalan)



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Drama, F/M, Mutiny, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 00:03:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3829807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya_Zalan/pseuds/Ghostwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Voyager's</i> crew rebels in a way Kathryn Janeway could never have possibly imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Revolt

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer** : Paramount owns all things Voyager. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> **Author's Note** : The opening dialogue was taken directly from the Voyager episode, _Night_. Past that, it's my version of what could have happened. For Margie... who said the right line!
> 
> Written December 1998.

~ * ~ * ~

Chakotay entered her quarters tentatively, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of illumination. Janeway was there in the darkness, watching silently out the view port. She didn't acknowledge his presence. The sight of her like that disturbed his spirit deeply. This wasn't the Kathryn Janeway he knew. He wanted to yell at her, scream until she listened to reason; he wanted to throw something large across the room to grab her attention and vent his own frustration; he wanted to hug her until all her worries and fears were gone... More than anything though, he wanted his captain and best friend back.

Everyone on _Voyager_ was hurting right now, and the stability of their leader during this time was of paramount concern. Taking a deep breath, he resigned himself to simply clearing his throat, hoping she would at least meet his eyes this time.

After a few moments of continued silence, she finally spoke. "You have news for me?" Her voice was dull, lifeless.

"It's probably nothing," he began, "just background Theta radiation. But, it could mean there's someone nearby."

"Distance?"

"Approximately twenty-five light years."

"It's a long shot, but alter course."

He hesitated before replying, "Yes, ma'am." She still hadn't turned toward him.

"If that's all, Commander?" Her voice held a very clear warning.

"Actually, I'd like to make a request," Chakotay offered boldly. "I've been saving up my holodeck rations and I've got three full hours coming. Any chance I might persuade you to join me for a few rounds of Velocity? It'll help clear your mind."

"My mind is perfectly clear." The bitterness of her words stunned him.

The time for reasoning and speculation was over. He knew this conversation was heading towards the same conclusion that it had any number of times since they'd entered the Void: 'If the crew asks, tell them the captain sends her regards,' she would say to him. It had become her favorite form of dismissal and he was tired of hearing those words. Something needed to be done quickly, for her sake and for that of the entire crew as well. It only took a nanosecond for him to make up his mind. "Then what if I told you I'm not leaving until you join me?"

"I'd say have a seat; it'll be awhile."

"All right," Chakotay responded calmly, turning to make his way towards her sofa. Once there, he sat down and began to remove his boots. "You don't mind if I make myself comfortable?"

Janeway turned towards him finally, her face half hidden in the shadows. "I don't find this joke very amusing," she said icily.

"Oh, this is no joke, Kathryn," he began seriously. "You picked a bad time to isolate yourself from the crew. This ship needs a captain, especially now."

"Would you be satisfied with, 'I'm just catching up on some reading'?"

Chakotay smiled mirthlessly, studying the pale countenance before him. There were dark circles under her eyes and her lips were thin and colorless. Without further hesitation he reached up and tapped his combadge. "Chakotay to Tuvok."

"Tuvok here."

A spark of anger flared in Janeway's eyes as she listened. Chakotay knew that look well; he'd been on the receiving end of it many times. Intimidation was just one of the many talents locked inside those incredible blue-grays of hers. But right now, he was far too determined to make his point clear; consequences would be dealt with later. His gaze met hers unflinchingly as he continued."I'm going to be remaining in the captain's quarters until she agrees to resume her duties as the captain of this ship in full."

"What, exactly, do you intend to do, Commander?" Tuvok asked curiously.

"I intend to sit, Tuvok... sit and wait. You have the Bridge during Alpha shift until further notice."

~ * ~ * ~

On the Bridge, the Vulcan's eyebrows shot up at the commander's words. Down at the Conn, Tom Paris swiveled around in his chair to face Harry Kim, an astonished grin on his face. The young Operations officer returned the smirk in full, his dark eyes sparkling with amusement.

Paris was trying hard to stifle his laughter as the captain's harsh voice finally resounded through the comm system. "Tuvok, proceed toward the source of the Theta radiation, one-quarter impulse."

"Aye, Captain," he responded, his eyebrows still fully cocked. "Do you wish me to remove Commander Chakotay from your quarters?"

There was a moment of silence before she responded, "That won't be necessary. If the commander wants to park himself on my sofa like a stubborn child, I really don't give a damn."

"Acknowledged," was the Security officer's only reply.

~ * ~ * ~

Janeway stared out at the blackness, trying desperately to concentrate on anything but the man currently lounging in her quarters. His presence was horribly distracting. She was positively fuming on the inside, though she had no intention of letting him know how much this was affecting her. If he wanted to sit, let him sit.

Chakotay sat placidly on her sofa, humming quietly. He'd tried to make conversation any number of times, but she'd remained silent, ignoring him completely. She still stood in the same spot, looking out towards the starless void that surrounded them. She definitely had tenacity, he had to give her that much. Hell, tenacity was probably her middle name. The thought made him chuckle softly.

"Kathryn?" he ventured once more. No answer. "What's your middle name?" Still no answer. "I was just wondering if you had one."

Silence.

"You're a very good Alpha Male, you know that, don't you?" he smiled, changing the subject. One of the muscles in her jaw twitched at his comment, but otherwise she remained motionless. He knew she was furious with him. She had every right to be, of course, but he refused to be a passive first officer any longer. She was going to know exactly how deeply her conduct was affecting him, even if it meant he would have to scrub the plasma manifolds with his toothbrush for the rest of the journey.

"I should throw you in the brig," she threatened with quiet hostility.

"I wouldn't resist." His answer was honest, and they both knew it. It didn't matter that he was very angry and disappointed with her behavior. She was still the bravest, proudest, most stubborn officer he'd ever had the pleasure of serving with. He would follow her to Hell and back if necessary, and that was something else they both knew.

The sound of her door chime interrupted the highly charged atmosphere. Janeway didn't even blink as she called for entry, her voice still laced with venom.

"Whoa, it's dark in here!" Paris' familiar voice reached Chakotay's ears, causing the older man to grin.

"Computer, half illumination," B'Elanna Torres called from behind him. As ordered, the lights came up partially, allowing the occupants of the room to finally be seen. Chakotay's grin turned into a genuine smile as he watched Torres and Harry Kim stroll in directly behind the mischievous pilot.

"I prefer the lights down!" Janeway snapped, turning to glare at the intruders.

"How are we all supposed to eat in the dark?" Paris asked innocently, handing Chakotay one of the containers of food he carried. All three junior officers were dressed in off-duty attire, and all of them were carrying several containers which they carefully set on the coffee table in front of the first officer.

"I'm starved!" Kim exclaimed, kicking off his shoes and plopping himself down on the floor. He immediately began opening containers and eating ravenously.

"What are you all doing here?" Chakotay asked, his expression puzzled. The delicious smells were doing a number on his stomach already. He hadn't realized how hungry he was.

"It's been pretty boring around here lately," Paris began as he sat down beside Kim, pulling Torres into his lap. "We thought a sit-in would be kinda fun." Chakotay fought not to laugh at the enraged look on the captain's face. She had just opened her mouth, presumably to start yelling, when the door chime sounded once more.

"Come in!" Paris and Torres shouted together. Janeway stared, wide-eyed, at the young officers, her eyes blazing with anger. The door opened, admitting six more crew members, the Delaney sisters among them. Many of them were carrying pillows. Janeway watched in complete amazement as they all sat down on the floor of her quarters and began to converse quite loudly with each other.

"Hey, where'd you get the pie?" Megan Delaney shouted over the noise.

"We stole it from the kitchen," Torres grinned, passing the plate to her.

"Have you eaten yet, Captain?" Paris asked, his bright eyes meeting her angry ones calmly.

"EVERYONE GET OUT, NOW!!" Janeway shouted back at the top of her lungs, pointing at the door. The crew members stopped in mid-conversation to look at their commanding officer.

"Are you sure you're not hungry?" Kim asked the captain respectfully after a moment of complete silence. "We brought plenty of food?"

"You're ALL on report!! EACH and every one of you!" Janeway continued her tirade, her voice cracking from the strain. Chakotay winced at her words. He'd seen her extremely angry before, but not like this. She was well past her boiling point. Her eyes met his then, and the look she gave him was utterly vicious. He froze, hoping desperately that the, 'I had absolutely nothing to do with this,' look on his face was convincing enough. The door chime sounded once more, breaking the silence.

"Come in!" everyone shouted, starting their conversations up all over again as if nothing had happened. Neelix entered her quarters wearing a huge smile.

"Somebody said there was a party down here!" The Talaxian expressed enthusiastically.

"Sure is! Come on in Neelix," Paris called, diving back into his food.

"I hope everyone's hungry... I brought along a few snacks!" Neelix proceeded to wheel in a small cart filled with trays of food. "Hello, Captain! Good to see you again!" he smiled and waved across the room. Several more crew members entered after him and made themselves comfortable on the floor.

"Hey, does anyone know how to play an old Earth game called Twister?" Jenny Delaney asked.

"We're quite familiar with that one," Paris chimed in, flinching as Torres clobbered him on the shoulder.

"You're a pig!" she accused loudly.

"Hey, wasn't that my Raunberry Musk pie?" Neelix inquired suspiciously, watching as Kim quickly took the last bite of his dessert. "Someone took that from the kitchen!"

"I bet Chakotay would like to play Twister, though," Paris announced quietly, waggling his eyebrows at the older man while he nonchalantly looked at the captain out of the corner of his eye. Kim began coughing loudly while Torres hid her face behind her lover's back, unable to stop herself from laughing.

"Keep it up, Paris," Chakotay warned sternly, but the look in his eye told the blond pilot otherwise. The door chime rang once again.

"Come in!!" everyone yelled.

Seven entered, eyeing everyone curiously. "The Doctor informed me that this sit-down activity would be beneficial to my continued study of human behavior."

"It's called a sit-in, Seven!" Kim corrected, raising his voice to be heard over the others.

"Grab a spot and park yourself!" yelled Paris with a smile. "Did you bring your PJ's? We may be here for awhile!"

"What are PJ's?" the former Borg asked, looking entirely confused as she moved to sit next to Chakotay.

"This is a nightmare," Janeway whispered to herself as she watched. Reaching up, she slapped her combadge forcefully. "Janeway to Tuvok!" There was no response. She turned away from the fiasco developing in her quarters, her body shaking with rage. She slapped the communication device once again, "JANEWAY TO SECURITY!" Still no response. Her mind whirled with anger. How dare they invade her privacy like this! Too proud to leave, she simply grabbed a chair from the nearby table and faced herself away from the ruckus behind her, continuing to stare out at the starless night, and completely unaware that at least one pair of eyes had never left her form.

~ * ~ * ~

Two hours later, Janeway had given up trying to communicate with her Chief of Security. She'd tried her desk terminal, and even queried the computer. 'Unable to comply,' was the only response she'd gotten. Most of the crew were sitting on the floor of her quarters by then — packed in like sardines. Angrily, she'd made her way through the crowd, only to find that her doors had been sealed shut somehow. Grabbing a hairpin from her dresser, she'd finally opened her combadge and attempted to remodulate the carrier frequency. Her attempt had been unsuccessful.

So, she'd given up angrily, tossing the combadge to the floor. All around her, the crew was merrily singing the song, "100 Bottles of Beer" — for the second time — accompanied, of course, by the literal passing of a few such bottles around the room. She didn't even want to know where they'd come from. Nearly seventeen platters of food had been consumed already, and people were now ordering various snacks from the replicator — HER replicator! Janeway broke off her counting to turn and glare at her first officer. He was responsible for this whole mess, and she was enjoying the challenge of coming up with a suitable punishment for him. He gazed back at her, and she could tell he was fighting to keep a straight face amid all the revelry that surrounded them. That just pissed her off more.

"HEY!" someone yelled from the back of the room. "KNOCK IT OFF!"

Before Janeway could blink an eye, a pillow fight of epic proportion had begun in the main room. Within seconds, the song had dissolved into laughter and playful shouting as everyone joined in the fun. Taking a deep, controlled breath, she refocused her eyes back on the sofa. Seven was looking terribly confused as she avoided being hit by the wildly thrown pillows, and Chakotay was howling with laughter.

The captain clenched her jaw as she watched, a new wave of anger welling up inside. The sensation of someone tapping her arm brought her back to herself. She looked down into the smiling face of Ensign Brooks... who handed her a full bottle of beer. Janeway took the dark brown bottle and stared at it absently. There had been plenty of mutinies over the centuries, on both sea-faring and space-faring ships alike, but she seriously doubted any of them had been quite like this.

~ * ~ * ~

Four hours had passed — four very, very long hours. Janeway sat staring out the view port once more, her head resting limply against the transparent aluminum. She took a deep breath as the Doctor began his second selection of excerpts from Gilbert & Sullivan, the music blaring loudly throughout the room. "I am the Captain of the Pinafore!" he sang haughtily while the rest of the crew joined in cheerfully at the chorus. She'd given up on being angry; now she was just plain exhausted. The crew had already engaged in a seriously ridiculous round of charades, a lengthy game of floor volleyball, as well as a reading of the entire _Bawdy Tales of a Risa Showgirl_ , which were enough to make even Janeway blush brightly.

"HEY! WHO DIALED UP THE PIZZA??" someone yelled over the sound of the music.

Janeway closed her eyes in exasperation as Paris's voice rose above the din, "THAT WAS ME! PASS IT OVER, WILL YOU?"

The Captain of _Voyager_ cast a glance over her shoulder, only to catch several of the crew smiling at her. Not one of their smiles was offensive. All she saw was the deep respect and compassion that they'd always offered to her.

Always offered...

The sudden realization hit her like a ton of bricks as she looked over her crew. They weren't trying to provoke her — that had never been their intention. This was a demonstration of their concern for her well being, a way of showing how much they cared.

Again she closed her eyes as a wave of rarely shed tears suddenly gathered against her will. Perhaps this mission had been a success after all. She was living the dream of every starship captain — they'd been thrust over the edge... and they'd survived, overcoming hardships and tragedies that might have buckled any other rag-tag group of voyagers. They'd sought out new life forms, observed once-in-a-lifetime phenomena, explored strange new worlds, all in the depths of a region of space that no Federation traveler had been to before, and all with the best damned crew the fleet would ever know. Oh, yes... they would know this crew well — very well, because she was going to get them home. That was a promise she was determined to keep.

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed Tuvok had finally forced the door to her quarters open and was carefully trying to maneuver his way through the sea of people toward her position. He observed the Doctor curiously as he passed; the hologram was still belting out verses from the musical. Then, a calm Vulcan gaze met her own, the depth of his own concern readily apparent to his long-time friend. She took a deep, shuddering breath, astounded by what she saw, and then stood as he approached.

"Captain," Tuvok began, leaning close to her ear as he spoke. "A dampening field was erected around your quarters, making any form of communication with you impossible. _Voyager_ is currently operating with a skeleton crew. Many of these people are violating regulations by being here instead of at their duty posts. Shall I retain them for questioning and disciplinary action?"

Janeway turned to look once more at the people gathered there in her quarters. A lump formed in her throat as she caught sight of Chakotay watching her once more. His eyes were so warm and full of laughter, a concern far deeper than that of anyone else there. The corner of her mouth tugged into a lopsided grin as she looked at him. The smile he gave her in response brightened the entire room and sent a shiver down her spine. At that same moment, the Doctor finished his finale, a burst of raucous applause filling the air as the music came to a dramatic end.

"Thank you, Tuvok, but I'll take care of this," she said, turning back to her old friend. The Vulcan nodded once in acknowledgement, his eyebrows rising once more. A hush was quickly descending, all eyes trained in the captain's direction as she took a step closer to everyone. She scanned the room quickly, trying hard to make eye contact with everyone there. Taking another deep breath, she began to speak.

"Technically, I should place each and every one of you on report for disobeying orders, violating Starfleet regulations — and harassing a superior officer." Muffled laughter floated back to her ears. "But I don't intend to do any of those," she continued quietly. "What you've done here today was extremely bold, and very kind. Message received. Now isn't the time for any of us to be questioning things that have happened in the past, wondering, 'what if.' We have to concentrate on the future, which, although it seems very dark and lifeless right now, is bound to be bright with new discoveries in the days to come. Our destiny has been sealed; now we just need to be brave enough to face it and see where it takes us. Thank you for your concern. It is very, very deeply appreciated." The support she saw in the eyes of her crew was unconditional.

"We just wanted our captain back," Harry Kim admitted softly.

Janeway felt more tears forming, and knew that she had to finish this quickly. "You were successful; all of you. Thank you." She paused briefly to take another breath. "Now, we have a source of Theta radiation to uncover; let's get to it. Dismissed!"

The entire room moved at once, cheers and whistles filling the air. Within moments, there was actually space to move around in, prompting Janeway to walk forward towards her first officer. Tuvok was still at her side as the three of them converged in the middle of the room. "Curious," the Vulcan stated as his eyes met those of his captain once more.

"Impressive," Chakotay corrected him. Both men raised an eyebrow to the other, causing Janeway to smile even as tears still swam in her eyes.

"Tuvok, I'll see you on the Bridge," she said softly. He nodded in response, acknowledging both of them before turning to leave.

Once the door had closed behind him, the captain looked slowly around her quarters. It looked as though a tornado had passed through. Shaking her head, she turned back to Chakotay. "I never realized you could be so stubborn."

"I never realized you could blush so easily," he grinned wickedly. " _Bawdy Tales of a Risa Showgirl_ , huh? I'll have to remember that."

Janeway felt her face flushing once more at his comment. "You're awful," she whispered.

"You're beautiful," he countered, still grinning. His boldness shocked her, but she didn't turn away.

"Thank you." She raised her hand and placed it above his heart in a familiar gesture. His smile softened, knowing that her heartfelt words were meant for much more than his immediate compliment.

"You're welcome, Kathryn."

A slow smile spread across her face as they looked at each other. "Do you really know how to play Twister, Chakotay?" The big man's face reddened noticeably.

"Maybe we should get back to the Bridge?" he asked quickly, turning to look at the door.

Janeway chuckled loudly at his reaction. "I thought so..." They left her quarters arm in arm, their laughter echoing through the corridors.

~ * ~ finis ~ * ~


End file.
